Urgent Notice – IFNASA would like to inform esteem members of the community that due to unforeseen circumstances, the Land and Economic Summit of 24th – 28th October 2018 has been “Postponed” until further notice.

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UPCOMING EVENT: IFNASA will be having a “Identity, Land and Economic Round Table” in Cape Town, 24th November 2018.

Restore our African Identity by Restoring our Land

South Africa was always in the Custodianship of the San and the Khoi.

Land Expropriation Without Compensation is causing unthinkable anxiety and antagonism, for this reason the seed of the San and Khoena called Coloureds need to enter the debate and help correct the twisted and distorted narrative about us.

The Land debate was always going to be the defining moment of “Truth” as it posses the potential to free us as a country from the infinite uncertainties of whom rightfully should lay claim. The ill-conceived rhetoric of “Blacks in general and Africans in Particular” has effectively crafted a wedge between Indigenous Africans and the tensions between ethnic groups are palpable and intimidating. This country is yet to deal with the cocktail of inconsistencies and unpredictability of race classifications. South Africa as a new democracy revealed inexplicable and curios contradictions, contrast, cracks, dissimilarities, disagreements and denials. The envisaged inclusive agenda of all who live in the country and a non-racial society espoused by the once impressive Freedom Charter continue to evade the most noble ideas, ideals and progressive thinkers. It is time to talk about the San and Khoe (also called Coloured) Identity and Land.

Devastatingly, we observe carefully how the independent era sanctioned by the South African Constitution with legal authorization expelled and disqualified the people who were in the country before the Indigenous African migration from the North of Africa and the settlement of the European Settlers when we read section 25 subsection 7, which only offer legitimate Land claims after 1913, while the progressive forces remain soundless. As descendants of the Khoe and San, who visibly and perceptibly crafted the Land Title-deed, which remains “Rock Solid” across this country, we remain curious as to why the struggle paragons failed to correct the inhumane deception and genocide against the First People of the Land, by keeping us under a false identity termed “Coloured”? It is “Impossible” to talk about Land Restitution or Tenure without referring to the First People and their identity obliteration. It’s in this context that we developed the inaugural Land Summit to discuss the issues collectively and find amicable solutions

The UN Special Rapporteur probably best describes the current dilemma of Khoi and San community development and land in his 2005 report: ‘The root cause hindering economic development and intergenerational cultural survival has been the forced dispossession of traditional land that once formed the basis of hunter-gatherer and pastoralist economies and identities. This historic dispossession of land and natural resources has caused indigenous people to plunge from a situation of self-reliance into poverty and a dependency on external resources. The most pressing concern of all the Khoi and San communities is securing their land base, and where possible, re-establishing access to natural resources necessary for pastoralism, hunting-gathering or new land-based ventures such as farming.’ (UN: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, 2005, p. 10).

What is clearly missing from the current discourse on “Land Restitution – Restoration –Redistribution and Recompense” in South Africa is the denial of the continuous systematic and systemic elimination of the Khoi and San people extinction and the persistence of the false identity under the banner “Coloureds”, while we find it is difficult to embrace a philosophy of co-existence as Africans because of the conscious exclusions. The denial of the Coloured People’s true identity automatically disqualifies our community from any Land claims. Equally absent and misplaced from the conversation, in Africa “Identity and Land” is synonymous and inseparable.

The continuous Coloured marginality and subjugation is reflected in the South African historiography, unbelievably in post apartheid. Is it not amazing that very little positive has been written about the history of our people as a social group and much of what has been written either reproduces the simplistic formulations of popular racist conceptions of the Coloured identity or focuses narrowly on Coloured remonstration politics and the social injustices suffered by our community. The existing literature largely disregards crucial questions relating to the “Genocide” “Original Cultural Sin” of Coloured identity, including the social and political dynamic that inform Coloured distinctiveness. The Coloured uniqueness is not simply matters for social theory, however. “Coloured Identity' has become a legitimate political good sui generis (meaning ‘that which is the only one of its kind or unique), bound up with our San and Khoe identities our collective authenticity – today expressed as collective membership and through which our people will continue to assert our rights. In fact, our identity has always been inseparable with the Land. So, by assuming Colouredness to be either an in-bred quality that is the automatic product of miscegenation (mixture) or an artificial identity imposed by the white supremacist establishment on weak and vulnerable people as part of a divide-and-rule strategy, this diverse historiography has denied Coloured people a significant role in the making of their own “Identity” and “Land Ownership” in the country of our ancestors. South Africa, we need to talk.

In this context, the Indigenous First Nation Advocacy South Africa (IFNASA) thought it progressive to organize the very first Khoe and San Land Summit to expressly start to voice our collective opinion on the complexity of the Land discourse. If anybody should "Claim" the Land, it’s us. There is No dispute on this fact. Increasingly, all political parties in parliament, including white Afrikaner formations agree that the San and Khoena were the First occupiers of the Land and there are vast tracks of texts available affirming it. What will South Africa do to correct the inaccurate historical narratives? What will the State do to correct the injustice, unfairness and inequality? This is a moment of Truth, South Africa we implore you, do the right thing. The Summit would like to amplify the Land dispossession challenges and opportunities of the Aboriginal People of South Africa, the First and Foundation People experience in democratic dispensation. The gathering aims to promote public discourse, develop new knowledge acquisition and carve new trajectories for the collective First Nation and South African people alike. Remember, we too are Africans in Particular.

IFNASA invited some of the most noticeable voices and critical thinkers on the Land discourse in the country including the National Khoi and San Council Chairman Mr. Cecil le Fleur, Government, Professor Ruth Hall from UWC department of Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (UWC - PLAAS), Mr. Andile Mngxitama President of Black First Land First (BLF), Mr. Kallie Kriel CEO of AfriForum, Dr. Vuyokazi Mahlati - African Farmers Association of South Africa (AFASA), Mr. Rassool Snyman a Khoi-San Activist, Mr. Ernst Roets Deputy CEO of AfriForum, Commissioner Rev. Chris Nissen, Mr. Sabelo Sibanda a Pan Africanist Activist, including IFNASA’s Executive Chairperson Mr. Anthony Phillip Williams amongst other equally important social commentators and analyst.